The "Elvis Costello Detour" will pass through Spain in June 2016: Zaragoza, on the 4th of this month, in the Sala Mozart; Madrid, 5 at the Monumental Theatre; and San Sebastian, 6, in the Kursaal.

What offers the venerable rocker on this tour are warm, intimate, fun and informal concerts. With most of his repertoire with the company played a guitar, and piano in some cases, even their best-known songs become new people. So that insolent or impudent of his early standards, such as "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes," "Watch Your Step", "Watching The Detectives" and "Pump It Up" which surely will play in June, but all if any / s of them are rebuilt and become more nuanced parts and other hue, less provocative.

Of course, to offer a performance of this type of personality that counts for a lot and left over Elvis walks. Demonstrated while going peppering interpretations with memories and anecdotes, while behind him a shell-shaped giant old television is showing images of his childhood and his musical and cultural influences, as well as old photographs of his family.

The concept works perfectly. Tests cotton, we want "as a songwriter, his ability to conjure either a specific time and emotion is what commands the show" (The Independent); "Your voice gets mature songs and leads to even higher heights" (The Artsdesk); "Costello offered something else: his inexhaustible, demanding and intimate engagement with their songs, old and new" (The New York Times). Rabies parked justified by a veteran depth, Elvis offers one of the most adventurous proposals of his illustrious career. Brilliant, yes. "

The musician, who has published an incisive autobiography reinforced by an anthology in a double album, touring Spain in June

DIEGO A. MANRIQUE

Madrid 18 MAY 2016

In 2015, he published an incisive autobiography, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink , reinforced by a double CD anthology. At the same impulse response Detour , a show where it occurs alone, which in June reached Spain. The visit is the excuse for a pleasant phone conversation is cut unexpectedly.

Q. In this decade, has released two albums, National Ransom (2010) and Wise up ghost (2013), with The Roots. Compared to earlier times, it seems that the source had dried.

R. The inspiration, you mean? There is no such thing: no work done with a creative purpose. I'm composing. What happens is that you try hard and when you look at the sales figures, you find that there is no correlation between the energy expended and got retribution. At this point, you do not expect gold records but you ask yourself if there are better ways to use your time.

Q. For example?

R. In caring for my children. My wife [singer and pianist Diana Krall] gets a lot of turns and someone has to care for the twins. I do not say bad (laughs).

Q. But do not miss the adventure of going out to play with other musicians? In 2007, he visited Spain with Allen Toussaint and his troop of New Orleans ...

R. 's the first thing I thought when I heard that Allen had died after a concert in Madrid. We live magical moments: he was a man of recording studios me but rediscovered the pleasure of playing live.

Q. I have been checking his concerts. For example, Glastonbury. Do you mind having to resort to still songbook of his first years, Costello's new wave ?

R. One meets in every situation. At a festival, you can not wait to hear your repertoire more complex, there are too many stimuli competing with the music. It is certainly more satisfying to play in other venues. One of my best professional experiences was rotated with the Brodsky Quartet by audiences of Castilla-La Mancha. Speak heart, I warn you .

Q. Now, now. We were surprised to find a song with lyrics in Spanish, Five minutes with you , on his latest album.

R. It is the payment of a debt. I've always been proud of Shipbuilding, my song about the Falkland [originally recorded by Robert Wyatt], which raised the paradox that the war was welcomed in British cities with shipyards, from which also came many of the soldiers who were going to die . I thought I should do a song that portray the other side. I speak of the end of the dictatorship in Argentina: a girl waiting for her father, unaware that has been killed by the military. The Spanish part is sung by the Marisoul a vocalist of Los Angeles. It is well understood in Spain?

P. Well ... that part of the letter sounds strange.

R. That worries me!

Q. Never mind, do not think that's going to ask. She would ask him about his record strategy. In general, it has been concerned to republish their albums with bonus tracks, sometimes doubling their duration.

A. I think any artist should take care of his legacy: if you do not you, you will do others. What would have thought Jimi Hendrix of the dozens of albums released after his death? Or those records where Elvis Presley change the original accompaniment. I would like to continue monitoring my reissues, but now no longer makes economic sense.

Q. I'm surprised, we thought we had the record to its service industry. Universal let you get your work in different labels: Verve, Deutsche Grammophon, Island, Lost Highway, Blue Note ...

R . Well, if you destine a disc to a particular market sector, using specific channels. But companies now seek only selling. And my curriculum is rare: successes but never had a number one. In some countries, I'm the guy who sings She [Ballad of Charles Aznavour]. In others, they remember me for having written songs with Paul McCartney.

Q. And is the artist who refuses to perform in Israel, for its treatment of the Palestinian population.

A. I was told that this would be a conversation about music. Right now, I do not need political polemics. Sorry, I 'd rather not talk.

Q. Never mind, do not think that's going to ask. She would ask him about his record strategy. In general, it has been concerned to republish their albums with bonus tracks, sometimes doubling their duration.

A. I think any artist should take care of his legacy: if you do not you, you will do others. What would have thought Jimi Hendrix of the dozens of albums released after his death? Or those records where Elvis Presley change the original accompaniment. I would like to continue monitoring my reissues, but now no longer makes economic sense.

Q. I'm surprised, we thought we had the record to its service industry. Universal let you get your work in different labels: Verve, Deutsche Grammophon, Island, Lost Highway, Blue Note ...

R . Well, if you destine a disc to a particular market sector, using specific channels. But companies now seek only selling. And my curriculum is rare: successes but never had a number one. In some countries, I'm the guy who sings She [Ballad of Charles Aznavour]. In others, they remember me for having written songs with Paul McCartney.

The next batch of reissues seems more and more unlikely.That's a real shame.Hope he will release them without worrying about the money.He must take care of his legacy after all!!

Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.

1. Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)2. I Can't Turn It Off3. Accident Will Happen4. Ascension Day5. Church Underground6. Everyday I Write The Book7. She's Pulling Out The Pin8. Shipbuilding - on piano9. Freedom For The Stallion - on piano10. A Face In The Crowd - on piano11. Walkin' My Baby Back Home - seated12. Little White Lies - seated13. Vitajex - on Ukulele14. Toledo - seated15. Ghost Train - seated16. She - seated17. Watching The DetectivesEncore One18. Side By Side - on piano19. Blood & Hot Sauce - on piano20. Alison - unplugged and sans microphone including a "walkabout" in the auditorium 21. Veronica22. Jimmie Standing In The Rain + Brother Can You Spare A Dime?Encore Two23. The Greatest Love - recording shown on the TV screen - EC and AT from the TV show "Treme". 24. I Want You

Nice to have a drink with ecsongbysong after the show. Elvis in good voice. Told a story about meeting Mohammed Ali.

Less than a year ago Elvis Costello introduced the world to his autobiography, 'Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink', a fact that seems to have influenced, and much, his last tour, Detour. A show that made landfall Sunday at the Teatro Monumental in Madrid and in which Costello takes to go interspersing anecdotes about his life and miracles in between a spectacular repertoire performed in an austere, with only the help of the guitar or the piano. A Spartan format that creates an intimate atmosphere with the perfect audience for a show halfway between concert and monologue.

When his friend and producer of his first records Nick Lowe played in Madrid three years ago with a similar format saying that "good to hear the songs revealed in its most primitive skeleton is that it is like the smell test, which They pass the test show that behind them there is a great composer, "Well, ateniéndome my own words, cotton does not deceive and Elvis Costello is one of the greatest composers of all time, with gems like 'Alison', 'Accidents will happen ',' Shipbuilding ',' Watching the detectives', 'Veronica' or 'I want you' as examples, all sounded last night in a concert that also became clear other things. The man born with the name Declan McManus is also a great performer and a great storyteller, as we already knew thanks to his lyrics.

In Detour, a large part of the show is he telling stories to the public, almost as if it were a play. There was time to remember how he met Allen Toussaint and as he finished eating broccoli with him, as the piano takes on this tour is his wife Diana Krall and has to go home without a scratch, so there was to talk about his time as the mad 'King of the New Wave' and as wanted to end alcohol bebiéndoselo all, and also to remember that comes from a musical family, with a father who was the singer orchestra Joe Loss and played at the same concert for the Queen in which John Lennon said that of "those in the cheap seats to give palms, the rest rattle your jewelry" or a grandfather who ended up playing in a corner and passing the hat.

Images of Ross McManus, his father, singing 'If I had a hammer' are unpayable and lead us to another of the great triumphs of his show, giant retro television. One element that adds depth, and nostalgia, to show either putting pictures of black films (of which it has declared fan) in 'Watching the Detectives', photographs of his grandfather's heartfelt' Jimmie standing in the rain 'or a photograph of her grandmother to the glorious' Veronica', co-written by Paul McCartney, which has become a fan declared and acknowledged that at the Calderon was watching him a few days ago. That same song, based on the problems of his grandmother with Alzheimer's, has also served to remind the great Mohammed Ali.

Sigh shouting

Throughout the concert Costello has moved to cry sigh perfectly with a magnificent piano rendition of 'Shipbuilding' as an example of the former and a version with guitar loop included in 'Watching the Detectives' as an example of the latter. But it has also made startling confessions as he hates 'Everyday I write the book', despite being one of his best known songs, and that cost him 10 minutes to write. Nevertheless, he has played and in his new acoustic arrangement rang again to glory. Of course it has seen much more at ease when he has played several new songs from a music that is preparing called 'A face in the crowd', has noticed you happy with the response from the public and has extended the concert until two hours and a quarter. Of course, the most exciting moment was when sounded 'Alison' in an intimate version Costello moving down to the audience to sing with the public.

Before finishing has put a video of him playing with Allen Toussaint 'The Greatest Love' which has served to recall the sad fact that the great composer, producer and arranger died in Madrid less than a year ago. As a postscript has come an intense 'I want you' that has served as a great example of how accurately tell a story with words and music, something that Elvis Costello is a true master, as was once again revealed. "

Someone at least was happy with the "walkabout" unplugged version of Alison in Madrid.

Nudity is sometimes the best way to show how well you know how to dress for the occasion. This applies to direct Elvis Costello resounding offered a patio attentive to her figure seats. He, his voice, guitars, a piano and many nuances.

Superb. Only then you can qualify its Madrid.

A large screen, like an old TV occupied the center of a scenario that then gave shelter to several guitars flanked on the left by a piano and right by a chair, two guitars and a hat that anticipated the presence of an ebullient Costello and versed in the art of making little, too little is much and more.

And so, the jukebox full of videos of his career, suddenly he outlined a shadow, guitar budding began singing with the only light in the images and it became clear that the night would provide more than an acoustic. Outside the cliché, Costello went over his lengthy songbook tacking stories of his life with the plot continuity of memories. Memories that came out on the screen in the form of old photos, which we entered the hall of the McManus family where a small Declan Patrick grew full of contrasts that mark today.

Because what we saw these was an open book in which the stories whistle, transmitted by word of mouth and left accompanied by melodies. That is why the time jumps, protagonists throughout his career maintained a thread that remained strong until the last song. So, without fuss or tinkering. Direct, exactly.

In that short distance Costello's throat, trembling, eloquent, slick and powerful, moving at that expressive record over the years shows confidence, experience and while caution. As for knowing that the time is right we must know how to wait and then give. Well he gave. Since traces of memories with her grandfather told many stories of war and his father singing in orchestras in Blackpool, vibrant times of pub rock and new wave with Attractions, with trajines by clubs and hotels uncertain adventures, and steps towards wider horizons where fate would lead him to meet Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach and Allen Toussaint, he died a few months ago in Madrid, who recalled on several occasions.

In this walk of life, with volumes, chords and silences, Costello presented her "Detour", which is also the title of a film of black cinema filmed in 1945 and directed by Edgar G. Ulmer in his throat and his hands let out titles like "Shipbuilding", "Toledo", "I want you", "Everyday I write a book," "Veronica" "Accidents will happen", "She" and many more, linking echoes of the past, comments and rhythms from a ukulele to a pedal loops hinted a composer twisted past that has helped him build a present aimed remarkable heights. As much as this concert, quite remarkable. That's how it went."

"Without micro, acoustic in hand, he leaves the stage and sings among the audience an 'Alison' that I wish, if you were there, you could experience sometime in life"

Last Sunday, Elvis Costello brought to Madrid his tour "Detour" in a live that faced with no more accompaniment than his guitar and his voice. In the Monumental Theater was David Perez.

Elvis CostelloMonumental Theater, MadridJune 5, 2016

After the mass bath of Sir Paul McCartney in the Calderón, under the hurricane of a Primavera Sound that absorbs all the foci and opens the closure of the great festivals, a sudden luck of eclipse gives us the opportunity to escape nowhere (duringlLittle more than two hours), savoring the roots and life that springs from popular music. Elvis Costello arrives at the Monumental Theater in Madrid (second stop of three in our country), with his autobiography under his arm, "Music infidel and invisible ink", ready to continue undressing in this tour "Detour" G. Ulmer), where the style "Storytellers", interweaves personal stories and scatters at will, only accompanying his voice, guitar or piano, his oceanic songbook.

From the shadows, with English punctuality, Mr. Costello appears in elegant black, sunglasses included and magic is done. It takes a few minutes to put the theater upside down with 'The Red Angels wanna wear my' or 'Accidents will happen', which sounds more alive than ever, risking every phrase and proving that, besides being one of the best Storytellers of the last forty years, has one of the most genuine and brave voices of rock.

He has a lot of charisma and has "showman" wood, between theme and subject moves like fish in the water, do not forget that he had his own show on the Sundance channel ("Spectacle: Elvis Costello with ..."). The staging is simple, warm and effective: grand piano on the left, fan of guitars around, a scarf from Liverpool, a chair from which hangs a hat and a pair of luminous announcing the tour and "ON AIR" . In the back center, a gigantic retro TV that illustrates us at all times with images from decades past, the childhood of the little Declan McManus, family or friends. And soon there are snapshots of his beloved Allen Toussaint, always present in one way or another throughout the evening, commented Costello: "When I was a kid I heard records that sounded different to each other, and in all was the seal of Allen Toussaint , Produced, arranged or interpreted by him. And here we are, in the city where we lost him. " Those of us who were lucky enough to be at Toussaint's last concert at the Lara Theater, still rubbed our eyes to try to erase the end of that bad dream. Elvis dedicates an interpretation with guitar of "Ascension day" in which, to barely, we get that we do not leak our heart by the mouth.

Anecdotes, memories and unrecognizable frames, such as that of his father, who sang in the bars of Blackpool and stayed ahead of the Beatles in a talent contest, or the first time he came to the United States and fantasized about meeting the "Femmes fatales" that he saw in the movies of "cinema noir" ... It sounds 'Church underground' and after giving some zasca to Donald Trump, he approaches the piano very carefully and tells us that it is his wife (Diana Krall), who has left it and has promised to return it without any scratch. Masterpieces to the keys 'Shipbuilding' and 'Freedom for the stallion', from the revisited 'The river in reverse', 2006, which he recorded with Toussaint.

He picks up the six strings and even rips like a ukulele. He ends up sticking the left side of the city chest with a very beautiful and beautiful 'She', more of his own than Aznavour, and electrifies us forever with an apotheosis 'Watching the detectives' that puts the theater on its feet, applauding as a bell There would be tomorrow.

A little respite and Costello reappears like the big ones, dancing and wearing a new jacket. The connection with the public is total, look where you look smiles in the dark. He gives his grandmother 'Veronica' and empties himself into 'Jimmie standing in the rain', and without micro, acoustic in hand, gets off the stage and sings among the audience an 'Alison' that I wish, if you were there, you can experiment Sometime in life.

And even if we fantasize about Costello hanging the Jazzmaster that shines in the background and blows everything up with Nick Lowe's (What's so funny'bout) Peace, love and understanding, we know that it's impossible after having left the soul in an interpretation to Open tomb of 'I want you'. You can not ask or give more, this is to love music and the rest is silly. "